Making an IoT platform make sense to the people who buy it

Context

RAC Digital provides IoT business services, including vehicle tracking and on-road reporting, to enterprise clients. Over six months I worked as web and UI designer alongside a product manager and two developers. I designed the public business website and the internal dashboard system for vehicle tracking operations, built in partnership with ABSA Bank operations.

The problem

The platform had been built by engineers, for engineers. Procurement managers and operations directors, the people who sign off on contracts, could not find their way around it without technical support. RAC Digital was losing enterprise deals at the demo stage.

Approach

1. 01

   Ran contextual inquiry sessions with three buyer groups: IT procurement, plant operations and the C-suite

2. 02

   Mapped each group's decision journey from first demo to sign-off

3. 03

   Found that buyers needed ROI dashboards, compliance status and integration health, not raw device data

4. 04

   Designed the business website with a bold, clear brand presence

5. 05

   Structured the dashboard around fleet management, SLA tracking and integration health

6. 06

   Delivered a scalable design system with an industrial visual language

Outcome

• →Demo-to-proposal conversion up from 18% to 47%
• →Onboarding time for new enterprise clients down 55%
• →Design system covering 40+ component states
• →Adopted by 3 enterprise clients within 6 months of the redesign

Reflection

“The people using the platform and the people buying it wanted different things. Engineers needed device telemetry. Decision makers needed proof the system was paying for itself. Giving each group its own clear view, on the same platform, is what turned demos into proposals.”